Ok, I swear I’m trying to be on vacation and not do work, but then we were buying some flour to make pizza dough, and I remembered that King Arthur Flour was on some list we found of the oldest extant companies in the U.S. Reading the back of the bag of flour confirmed that … Continue reading →

De La Rue is a publicly traded security printing company based in London. It is the largest supplier of banknotes, responsible for more than 150 national currencies as well as security documents, passports, and identification systems. Like most companies of its caliber, it also offers specialty services, cash handling systems, and related softwares. Origin story: … Continue reading →

Giesecke & Devrient is a privately held, family-owned currency printer and producer of security technologies. Their different divisions handle banknote and securities printing, smart cards, cash handling systems, identification systems, and e-payment systems. They are the world’s second largest supplier of banknotes (number one is De La Rue), but the real focus of the company … Continue reading →

Crane & Co. is a privately held, family-owned company that is based out of Dalton, MA with an international facility in Tumba, Sweden. It is the sole provider of special currency paper for the US Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Crane also plays a role in the international security printing industry, providing paper, printing, and … Continue reading →

ABnote has a merger-filled history, with one specific interesting-though-confusing merger occuring in 1990. Here’s an overview. In 1968 Edward Weitzen becomes president of the nearly bankrupt conglomerate B.T. Babbitt, Inc. He changes its name to B.T.B. Corp and focuses the company’s efforts on specialty printing. 1969, Weitzen acquires American Bank Note Company. In the … Continue reading →

ABnote is a holding company that operates through its subsidiaries, ABnote North America, ABnote South America, ABnote Europe, ABnote Australasia, ABnote NZ, CPS Technologies (France), Keystone (Canada), and American Banknote Company (US). It is the number one plastic card manufacturer in the world, as well as the exclusive distributor of stamps for the USPS. ABnote … Continue reading →

In attendance: David Kristin Moving forward… OUTLINE need to make an outline show bible, or story/narrative bible to keep everyone on track we feel like we have our minds wrapped around more of the market mechanisms and history of corporations now return to CHARACTER: Warren Buffett book (see bibliography) Union leaders Quants Remember, multiple nested … Continue reading →

What are these 8 moments in life of company? (moments of crisis, change, forks in road etc) • limited liability, brings outside investors in rather than just owner/partner investors. [Is this the equivalent of the IPO in modern parlance?] • change from owner-managers to non-owner managers, creation of the “agency problem.” • some moment having to do … Continue reading →

Trivial thing, but a little marker: The ways in which a Company’s name evolves very 19th century, pedestrian naming scheme, named after what it does and who does it (Smithson Iron Works or whatever) very grandiose variation on that — National Biscuit Company making amalgamated words — National Biscuit Company > Nabisco more recently in terms of mergers, … Continue reading →

We’re going to have to be very careful in terms of our choice of product, doesn’t want to be trivial, some stupid product that then, when we go thru all of this, it starts to look like we’re saying “Look at this really dumb thing but the Company manages to sell it and convince us … Continue reading →